


Something Darker

by Zillabird



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Character Death, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:21:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zillabird/pseuds/Zillabird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was only a matter of time, Jason knew that. He couldn't escape the Joker forever. He'd just assumed that he would come after him and him alone. Too bad he was wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Darker

**Author's Note:**

> I am not incredibly familiar with the comics, not as familiar as I would like to be for sure. If there are any GLARING inaccuracies, please feel free to message me. Try to restrain yourself if "that's not how the comms work". You're missing the point of the story.
> 
> Also, I have never written the Joker before and I'm not too sure about it but I'm too much of a wuss to hunt down a beta. This characterization felt right so I went with it. But, again, if it feels wrong just message me and let me know.
> 
> I'm sorry it's sad. I wasn't planning on that.

She was pretty, pregnant, and too damn young to be involved in this. Dick watched as the Joker dragged a blade over her swollen stomach light enough to not break skin. The woman shivered in her fear. "Make the call, Wing."

One of Joker's henchmen unclipped the comm from Dick’s utility belt and held it up next to his face. "And if I don't?"

"I think you know what I'm going to do," Joker said. His face split into a grin and he poised the blade, primed to strike. "But I could show you-"

"No," Dick said quickly. "I'll call."

The henchman waited until Dick held up three fingers and then pushed the respective button down. Dick ground his teeth together but managed to spit out, "Red Hood?"

There was a pause and the Jason's voice crackled to life. "Nightwing, long time no...well, hear, I guess."

"I guess. Listen, I could really use your help," Dick said.

"My help?" Jason sounded surprised. "What about the Bat?"

"Batman is busy. I need you," Dick said.

Silence. God, did the thought of Dick calling him for backup really rate this kind of shock? "Is everything okay, Nightwing?"

Dick squeezed his eyes shut. Of course Jason would be concerned, compassionate now that Dick had to sell him out. He could feel the Joker's expectant eyes on him. "Yeah, just looking for a little backup."

"Well, you know I'm there," Jason replied. "What's the address?"

The Joker's grin widened further. Dick's stomach rolled. "Its, um..."

"Help us!" The woman shouted.

Five sets of eyes turned to her. The Joker's were murderous. "I thought I told you to stay quiet!"

"Nightwing? What the hell is going on?" Jason demanded.

Two men wrapped their arms around Dick to keep him from moving as the Joker plunged the knife into the woman's chest. Her eyes went glassy and she dropped. Dick struggled. "No!"

“Nightwing? Nightwing!" Jason exclaimed.

The Joker, hands still bloody, walked over to the comm and grabbed it. "Red Hood, its been awhile."

"Joker," Jason replied. Dick hoped the Joker couldn't hear the fear in Jason's voice the way he could.

"I've got something of yours, its black and blue all over and the longer you take to get here the more fitting that description is going to become." The Joker laughed at his own joke. It sent chills down Dick's spine.

"Where?" Jason asked.

Dick tensed. "No! Don't you dare!"

The Joker's fist slammed into Dick's jaw. His head snapped painfully to the side. Jason's voice was quick to reply. "Stop. Don't touch him. I'm coming, you just have to tell me where."

Joker riddled off an address to the warehouse they were in. "Hurry, Hood. The countdown is ticking. I've waited a long time to get my hands on your little Bluebird."

* * *

Jason killed the engine to the bike outside the warehouse. He didn't bother trying to be stealthy as he stalked into the imposing building. The Joker knew he was coming and Jason wasn't holding any cards anyways.

Likewise, the Joker wasn't bothering with subtlety. Dick was hanging from a length of chain, his toes brushing the floor. It didn't look like Joker had gotten very far but there was still already so much damage. Blood soaked into the suit turning blue to purple and making the black shine under the florescent lights. Joker spun around at the sound of his footsteps. "The guest of honor has arrived!"

Jason took a threatening step forward and the Joker squealed. He ran around to hide behind Dick's dangling frame and then pulled a bloody blade from the folds of his jacket. It was placed with a silent warning against Dick's throat. Jason swallowed heavily and took a step back. The Joker cackled. "Oh, yes. Harley was right. Harley was right. Harley was right. These birdies are twitterpated, yes siree. You would very much not like it if I slit his throat."

Jason ignored him and, not for the first time, was grateful that the hood hid his expressions. Instead, he spoke to Dick. "Nightwing, are you alright?"

"Positively in stitches," Dick said, a trace of a smile on his lips.

The Joker glared at him and drove the hilt of his blade against a particularly angry bruise. "Stop making jokes. I don't like it when you do that, you think you'd learn to stop."

Great, if things weren't bad enough Dick was antagonizing the situation.

"You just don't like that I'm funnier than you are," Dick rasped.

Joker drew back his blade to stab him and Jason shot forward once again. "No!"

The Joker paused, looked to Jason and then back to Dick. He smiled again and waved the blade in front of Dick's face. "I see what you're trying to do, Bluebird. You think if I off you first then I won't have any more leverage with the other one."

He leaned close and whispered something to Dick that Jason couldn't really make out but sounded something like, "It might have worked, too."

Dick looked defeated.

The Joker held the blade back against Dick's neck. "Get rid of the hood."

Jason's arms rose slowly. The hiss of the broken seal signaled that he'd lost at least some of his advantage but he tried not to let it worry him too much. He was going to lose plenty more before the night was over, of that he could be sure.

"A mask beneath a mask?" Joker gaped. "That's utterly ridiculous. And I should know, I do the ridiculous all the time."

"Get on with it," Jason growled.

Joker shrugged. "Now the guns."

Jason reached down and gently set the guns to the side. Carefully he kicked them away, both out of his reach but also in the opposite direction of the henchmen in the shadows. Not that it would matter.

"Is that all of them?" The Joker asked. Suspicion laced his tone.

Jason hesitated, tried to decide if lying was worth the risk. It wasn't, so he knelt down and pulled the last gun strapped to his ankle. That, too, joined the others. "That's it."

"Splendid." Joker motioned to a thug in the corner that came out with a shiny pair of handcuffs. "Put them on, make sure they're tight, and maybe your turtle dove lives to see tomorrow."

Jason did as he was bid. Fear ran rampant through his bloodstream but it was easily ignored. Dick was still in so much danger and Jason would rather die a thousand deaths than have to watch Dick go through one. "Just let him go."

The Joker pointed to Dick. "The Bluebird? Oh no. No no no no no. He's right, without him you're liable to misbehave. He's going to keep you toeing the line, Hood. Isn't that right, Bluebird?"

When Dick didn't respond the Joker pressed the knife into his collarbone. Dick groaned out in pain. Jason growled. "Stop it. This isn't about him."

"Isn't it?" The Joker asked. He pulled the knife out but his eyes were still all over Dick like he was looking for the next place to start carving. "I have such an awful memory. Maybe it was about him all along..."

No. The Joker couldn't just change gears now. Not when Jason had given up everything to make sure Dick walked out of here alive. "God damn you. If you kill him I will end you. There will be no mercy, no trial. No Arkham. I am not Batman. You made a deal, me for him. Follow through or I won't need guns to take you out."

The Joker laughed again. "I'm just joking. Can't you take a little joke? What is it with all of you heroes? Why so serious?"

"What do you want from me?" Jason demanded.

"I want my punchline!" The Joker yelled. Dick stiffened. "I want to finish what I started and then finished and then had to start all over again."

"You want me dead," Jason said resigned.

The Joker shook his head. "I want you broken. I want to watch you burn. I want to see the hope dim from your eyes."

Dick was breathing heavy. Maybe reality had finally set in for him. Jason knew what that was like, to have death laid out before you and know that no one was coming. He felt bad for Dick. Felt worse for himself. Dick was going to have to watch him die but Jason was actually going to have to do it. And it was altogether selfish that Jason thought it might be easier this time around, because at least someone was there now.

How twisted was that?

"Let's get this over with then," Jason said.

"Kneel," the Joker said.

 

Always with the villain power trips. He got down on his knees though. Dick had started struggling again but it was getting him nowhere. "I'm sorry, Nightwing."

"Jay! Please! Run! Go n-umf!" The Joker cut him off with a sharp elbow to his gut.

"Jay, huh? Wanna tell me what that stands for?" He asked.

Jason set himself, tried to prepare. "No."

The Joker giggled. "Have I struck a nerve? Maybe the birds know each other outside of their feathers, huh?"

Jason said nothing. He didn't need to. The Joker wasn't stupid. There was only one reason to keep his identity secret and that was if it affected Dick. They both knew he wasn't walking out of here alive so protecting his brother and lover was going to be his last action on Earth.

Fucking love.

But the Joker didn't really care. This wasn't about Jason Todd. It was about Robin and Batman. Joker didn't have to know who was under either of those masks to hurt them, so it didn't matter.

Damn it. Jason had really started to like living again. With Dick. This sucked. This sucked so hard.

"Stop, please," Dick begged. Joker wasn't paying attention but each plea felt like a knife to Jason's heart. "Don't...don't hurt him. Please."

Christ. Please shut up, Dick. He was only making it worse.

The Joker reached a hand out and grabbed a crowbar from an outstretched hand. Of course. How poetic.

Jason didn't move as the Joker stepped behind him and then knelt down to whisper in his ear. "I'm going to beat you to death in a warehouse, again. I'm going to feel you die by my hands. You're going to stay here and you're going to take it because you want him to live. And if you're smart, you'll stay dead this time. Or I will find him and I will gut him and I will make you watch. This is my best joke, Robin, and you will not ruin it for me ever again!"

Jason steeled himself.

* * *

"How is he?" Bruce asked quietly.

Alfred shook his head. "He keeps asking for him. For Master Todd. I have to keep telling him but...I don't think its really getting through."

"The Joker did a number on him," Bruce said. His eyes burned so he looked away. "Do you think he'll ever....be Dick again?"

"I don't know. I know that watching the one you love die brutally in front of your eyes must be terrible. I know that Dick never stopped blaming himself for the first time." Alfred looked forlornly at the closed door to Dick Grayson's bedroom. “He’s had to live through so many deaths.”

"I should have killed him. I should have....maybe Jason was right," Bruce said.

Alfred was quiet for a long time. "I don't think there is a right in this situation. I think there is only darkness and something darker. And, to be honest, sometimes I wonder if killing the Joker would really make any difference."

"Of course it would make a difference," Bruce said.

  
"Would it?" Alfred asked. "Or would we just end up with something worse?"

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started this fic thinking that someone was going to save them. Batman, maybe. Or have Nightwing free himself in an act of intense love. I don't know. But I started writing and got farther and farther into the fic and it started to become clear that they were on their own. I've been told that, as an author, you are in control of what happens in the story and I've been told that the characters are in control. I usually find myself somewhere in the middle. I probably could have manipulated the story to have Batman show up at the last minute (might even write an alt ending where that happens) but in this draft, I never felt like there was a hope for them. Which turned this into a really sad one-shot.


End file.
